Description

Minglewood Blues, Sugaree-> El Paso, Jack A Roe, Beat It On Down The Line, Row Jimmy, It's All Over Now, Althea, Lazy Lightning-> Supplication-> Don't Ease Me In Scarlet Begonias-> Fire On The Mountain, CC Rider, To Lay Me Down, Playin' In The Band-> Drums-> The Wheel-> Playin' In The Band-> China Doll-> Around & Around-> Good Lovin', E: Satisfaction

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Reviewer: lilrichwhiteboy - - May 15, 2013
Subject: Particulatly Good Audience Recording
Having gone through a number of '87 and '88 matrixes the last few days, I am becoming more and more impressed with this "authorized" '81 show. It is very well mixed, with the Boyz' vocals reduced enough where you can actually enjoy the music. Did I say "particularly good audience recording?" How about "exceptionally good" audience recording. The show itself is way above average, though having China Doll and R&R before Good Lovin' leaves me no choice but to give it four stars. But, but, but. It is one of Healy's best authorized AUDs. So, with that five sounding AUD and the Boyz' four star aforementioned showing... I'll give it 4 1/2 stars.
This May show should be in everybody's collection for the sound if not for anything else.

Reviewer: chris phillips - - December 30, 2012
Subject: Best Dead Show In Connecticut
To Lay Me Down is great and everything else is very good. This and Ithaca were a blast that month.

Reviewer: RISteve - - December 15, 2010
Subject: Great Night
Haven't listened to this recording yet but I was at the show and it's one of my more memorable of 40+ shows. Drove down from URI and got there just in time. My recollection is the show started out pretty slow with a painfully slow El Paso - what was Bob thinking? But the Lazy Lightning/Supplication was a happy surprise. The 2nd set is what made this show memorable for me - the Scarlet/Fire was really great - I'm standing front row backsatge looking right out over the band and into the audience - it was absolutely ablaze! To Lay Me Down was so great, Wheel got the crowd really going, a touching China Doll and a really good Good Lovin. The Statisfaction encore was kinda weird - the crowd went nuts but I remember Micky stormed off stage - apparently not happy they did it.

Reviewer: Blue Yodel - - May 12, 2008
Subject: Killer show !
Yes indeed !! The Sugaree, Lazy Light, Scarlet > FOTM, Lay Me Down and ALL of the rest !!!

Very nice (audience) sound. Indeed a Matrix would be sublime !!! Mr Charlie Miller ????

And yes, 1981 was often overlooked after the 1977's (and before) and the splendid 1989-1991 period.

That's for all of the fun !

PS : was THERE !

Laurent Ehrmann

Reviewer: sourkrout - - December 8, 2007
Subject: A super damn fine Aud.
I think this was a 'very good' night for the boys performance-wise back in the spring of 81'. But the quality of this recording is totally killer. It's a shame there isn't more information on it. This is easily one of the best auds on the entire archive. And I'm surprised there aren't more reviews. You can hear the crowd a lot at times, but the music just drowns them out. It's really like you're there. I agree with the other reviewer. This should be in everyone's collection just for the sound quality. someone should master it or matrix it with a soundboard. get it and crank it!!

Reviewer: blackthroatedwind - - August 19, 2005
Subject: the best of spring tour 1981
alright...i have to admit my bias right up front as i was the very wasted, long haired, high school senior standing (i should say dancing) in seat 5, row 22, section 13. however, with that said and with many hours of dead now listened to, i honestly believe this to be the best show (with respect to both performance and "audience" audio quality) of the entire 1981 spring tour.

remember those nights when the dead just sounded a little bit more different than usual? while this could typically signify either a very good or a very bad thing, on this night it was an exceptional thing and it was clear that something very special was going on.

thankfully, this high quality audience source captures almost exactly how it sounded there and then. if you are a "sb only" aficionado, or perhaps, believe that there were no good dead shows after 1978, please don't miss the opportunity to burn this one and crank it up as LOUD as you can possibly stand it - and then just a little bit more!

the playing and vocals are extremely tight from the opening bell
and this remains one of my top 4 or 5 scarlet>fire's of all time (and yes, i know that's saying a lot with respect to the monsters laid down at barton 5/8/77 and nassau 11/1/79 among others). while not hardly as "exploratory" in nature as the aforementioned, the jam is tremendous and the fire solos are crisp, hot, mournful and distinctly "different" from any other version that i've ever heard. (incidentally, garcia bends a really long note in the 3rd solo that signifies the precise moment when a flame from the stage did, in fact, spread to the floor...and then straight through my skull).

the china doll and tlmd solos and harmonies are both so delicate and dead on that they have been known to reduce many a grown man to tears. satisfaction simply kicked my ass! everybody was on fire (check out brent and bobby's CC rider solos; the sick playin' jam and phil's riffs and bombs throughout the entire show) and garcia was particularly lucid, vibrant and energetic. '80 and '81 saw a lot of that; '82 saw some of that; '83 and '84 saw ever diminishing flashes of that; and then (sadly) we all know the rest of the story.

i absolutely implore you to check this show out from start to finish. though i had seen several great shows prior to this one, this was the night i fell in love with the grateful fuckin' dead. closing in on 25 years later, this remains one of the best nights of my life.

thanks to all who post and special thanks to mr. aizen for this historic gem!

Reviewer: bigbeahner - - May 7, 2004
Subject: May 81'
Another great show, sumthin about the north-east in spring really seems to get the boys fired up. Great recording as well, the tapers really pulled in some killer sound in 81. Grab this one you wont be upset..

Notes

FOB Healy authorized master audience cassette > 48k dats > delta dio 2496 > cooledit2000 > wav > shn; note d1 tracked for 80 min